We Know What You Read This Summer: Staff & Librarian Summer Reading Picks (from our Sept Morning Book Buzz Chat!)

By Jennifer Rubins | September 11 2023 | Morning Book BuzzStaff Picks

As always, librarians, when it comes to our Morning Book Buzz, you bring the coffee AND the conversation. And we are more than happy to bring the books. This month during our September 6th buzz, we asked: What was your favorite summer read? See the full episode recap here and keep reading to see many of your summer book picks below!

Hosts Kelly, Miriam, and Liz discussed their picks:

Kelly selected SOMEBODY’S FOOL by Richard Russo

Kelly: “I did love my Richard Russo. If you are a fan of the Everybody’s Fool/Nobody’s Fool series of books [North Bath Trilogy]. . . I was so happy to visit with Sully again, he’s one of my favorite book characters ever. . . I really did love it.”

Miriam selected THE UNDERWORLD by Susan Casey

Miriam:
“The book that I read this summer that I truly, truly enjoyed was THE UNDERWORLD by Susan Casey. She’s really an exceptional adventurer and chronicler of scientific history. . . she brings us along to the fantastical world of the deep ocean; the hidden worlds thousands of feet under the sea.”

Liz selected WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE by Terrance Hayes

Liz: “I read WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE by Terrance Hayes. This is a poetry primer in a lot of ways; it’s got timelines of literary luminaries from Elizabeth Bishop to Sylvia Plath to Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton. . . it is such a fun, lighthearted and historical [book]. . . just the least intimidating poetry introduction that you can imagine and Terrance Hayes is just a total master.”

 
 
It’s never too late to chime in! Share YOUR favorite Summer 2023 reads on our Instagram, Facebook, or on Twitter with #PRHMorningBuzz.

OK —we LOVE a great reading list! CHECK OUT some of YOUR favorite summer 2023 reads as shared during the September 2023 Morning Book Buzz:

Damsel
Damsel
Evelyn Skye
A damsel in distress takes on the dragon herself in this epic twist on classic fantasy—a groundbreaking collaboration between New York Times bestselling author Evelyn Skye and the team behind the upcoming Netflix film Damsel, starring Millie Bobby Brown.
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Save What's Left
Save What's Left
A Novel
Elizabeth Castellano
GMA BOOK CLUB PICK • ONE OF PEOPLE MAGAZINE'S BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER • An outrageously funny debut novel about a woman who moves to a small beach town looking for peace, only to find herself in an all-out war with her neighbors.“Irreverent and unexpectedly tender, this story takes neighborhood feuding to new heights and finds beauty and reinvention in unlikely places." —Oprah Daily"Brings a tongue-in-cheek tone to the beach read genre."—TIME
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Killers of a Certain Age
Killers of a Certain Age
Deanna Raybourn
Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon. They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they're sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire—it’s kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller by New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Deanna Raybourn.
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The Art Thief
The Art Thief
A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
Michael Finkel
A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK  • A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK • A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST NONFICTION BOOK • One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century: the story of the world’s most prolific art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser.In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, the best-selling author of The Stranger in the Woods brings us into Breitwieser’s strange world—unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them.“An absorbing and astonishing portrait of a fascinating and complicated character—a riveting story of obsession and misplaced brilliance.” —Kirk Wallace Johnson, best-selling author of The Feather Thief and The Fishermen and the Dragon
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Marrying the Ketchups
Marrying the Ketchups
A novel
Jennifer Close
An irresistible comedy of manners about three generations of a Chicago restaurant family and the deep-fried, beer-battered, cream cheese-frosted love that feeds them all—from the best-selling author of Girls in White Dresses “Riveting...the feel of extremely good gossip told across a hightop table over a beer with an old friend." —The New York Times Book Review
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Four Aunties and a Wedding
Four Aunties and a Wedding
Jesse Q. Sutanto
The aunties are back, fiercer than ever and ready to handle any catastrophe—even the mafia—in this delightful and hilarious sequel by Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of Dial A for Aunties.
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The Bromance Book Club
The Bromance Book Club
Lyssa Kay Adams
The first rule of the Bromance Book Club: You don't talk about book club.
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Romantic Comedy (Reese's Book Club)
Romantic Comedy (Reese's Book Club)
A Novel
Curtis Sittenfeld
A comedy writer thinks she's sworn off love, until a dreamy pop star flips the script on all her assumptions—a hilarious, observant and deeply tender novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Eligible, Rodham, and Prep.
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The House Across the Lake
The House Across the Lake
A Novel
Riley Sager
Now in paperback, the New York Times bestselling author of Final Girls and Survive the Night writes his "best plot twist yet.” (People, "Best Summer Books")
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The Thursday Murder Club
The Thursday Murder Club
A Novel
Richard Osman
“A little beacon of pleasure in the midst of the gloom...SUCH FUN!”—Kate Atkinson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big SkyFour septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves, a female cop with her first big case, a brutal murder ... Welcome to THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB—already a #1 international bestseller, with more than 1 million copies sold in the UK alone!
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When the Jessamine Grows
When the Jessamine Grows
A Captivating Historical Novel Perfect for Book Clubs
Donna Everhart
From the author of The Saints of Swallow Hill, an evocative, morally complex novel set in rural 19th century North Carolina, as one woman fights to keep her family united, her farm running, and her convictions whole during the most devastating and divisive period in American history, perfect for readers of Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles.
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The Last Ranger
The Last Ranger
A novel
Peter Heller
The best-selling author of The River returns with a vibrant, lyrical novel about an enforcement ranger in Yellowstone National Park who likes wolves better than most people. When a clandestine range war threatens his closest friend, he must shake off his own losses and act swiftly to discover the truth and stay alive.“A good story that’s intertwined like leaves afloat in a river with the current of Heller’s descriptive powers… Filled with Heller’s lush writing… Powerful.” –Denver Post
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Kala
Kala
A Novel
Colin Walsh
A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR NPR, THE GUARDIAN, THE INDEPENDENT, THE TABLET, AND CRIMEREADS • A gripping literary page-turner from a rising Irish talent in which former friends, estranged for twenty years, reckon with the terrifying events of the summer that changed their lives."[A] gritty heartbreaker of a thriller…a spectacular read for Donna Tartt and Tana French fans."—Kirkus “A master class in building suspense…Walsh manages a deft balance between adolescent angst and ecstasy — discoveries bringing horror, sorrow and joy — and the more deliberate, often elegiac reflections of adulthood, reckoning with the promises of the past.”—The Washington Post
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